Lurking in the Deep
Larry's POV:
DING DING DING! DING DING DING! DING DING DING! DING DING DING!
Larry and Alex stopped in their tracks on one the connecting bridges of Chum Rocks. They, along with the Koopas, Goombas, and Yoshis that were there, turned towards the center of the rocks where their big golden bell hung from a tower of limestone. At the bell was Finnian, ringing it as hard as he possibly could, yelling nonsense.
"Finnian!" Alex and Larry cried at once. They looked at each other and blushed, then bolted towards their friend. The rest of the civilians swapped glances, watching Alex, Larry and Finnian, waiting for something to happen.
"Finn, what in the—" Larry tried to speak.
"REAPER!" screamed Finnian. "Morcant and his crew and I were fishing and then we spotted a Reaper and it ate an entire shoal of Peepers and—"
"Reaper." Larry's eyes froze in place as he repeated the name. "Reaper. Reaper. Reaper LEVIATHAN?"
"YES!"
"TO TOWER ISLE!" Alex shouted, and grabbed Larry's arm with one hand before dashing to the bridge that led to Savior Island. "Evacuate now!"
A clamorous uproar filled the salty air as almost 100 people charged towards Savior Island. People tripped and fell, crashed through stands, slipped in the wet mud and sand, splashed in the water as they tried to get back onto an island after falling off. Larry's heart-rate jumped to new levels as Alex led him onto Savior Island, and then to its port.
Reaper Leviathans were known as one of the deadliest beasts to swim the seas, along with Maw-Ray Unaugi, and, of course, the Mega Blooper, but being top-three was good enough to frighten Larry a lot (this, though, does not necessarily mean they are the top-three; in fact, they are far from it. But these are only KNOWN creatures!). It was made even worse that the Reapers would occasionally prowl the shallows, and were so long and flexible that they could spring from the water and reach prey at long distances. Also, the walls of Savior Island could easily be broken by the Leviathan, and they were close to the waters, anyway. On top of that, Savior Island wasn't that big—in fact, even young Reapers were longer than it, so the whole idea went plop real fast.
The safest option was just to hightail to Tower Isle, a super tall sea stack of limestone that had been renovated into an even taller safe haven over the years of strong palm planks, and surrounded by sharp coral and sea urchins. It was an excellent place for land-surveying and could be seen from far away, and doubled as a recon point. There was a large fire that was kept alive at all times at the top of the tower, too, its smoke making it even easier to identify.
Some of the Yoshis took initiative and boarded the two smaller Yoshi sloops, leaving the galleon behind as it would take too long and wasn't that fast. Larry and Alex boarded the closest one, the one Cece, Rock and Egg had come along on, and the one those Yoshis were on now; Finnian took the other. Rock, a black Yoshi with a spear strapped to his back, a green vine belt with blowguns and darts, and armor of seashells with a tungsten helmet, was at the wheel, steering the boat 180° degrees away from Savior Island and towards Tower Isle, the directions to that place being told to him by a Koopa Troopa. Larry and Alex sat down on a barrel, taking heavy breaths, with Larry sheathing his claws and shell-spikes so as to not scrape anyone and cause even more damage than the whole rush had.
The chaos settled a tiny bit as everyone got on the boats, but it arose again as they went across the uncooperative waters, being in a more dangerous position than before, with the added annoyance of waves that kept splashing everybody on the deck. Shouts filled the air, coming from both boats, but only a select few were sensible at all:
"GO GO GO GOOOOOO!"
"Quicker, you lizard!"
"C'mon boat!"
"Inflate the sails more!"
"Screw Reapers!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—"
"Faster, people…"
"What if it attacks us now?"
"HOW MANY WERE THERE YOU BLUE SHELL?!"
"This is gonna be the end of me, I bet."
"We're DEAAAAAAD!"
"Help!"
"SHARP CORAL AHEAD!"
That last one was actually useful, and the Yoshi sloop successfully avoided the obstacle without being the Titanic of this world.
Larry jumped over a Goomba and pushed past a frightened Yoshi to get to the top of the captain's cabin at the back of the ship, even though now several civilians had holed up in the cabin. Many others were already on top with the same notion, surveying the water for any signs of the Reaper Leviathan, or another obstacle. That was when Lary felt a tug on his white robe, and he tilted his head to see Mariam with a pinched mouth, wide eyes even wider with fear. Her coconut-half cap was falling off, and her shell was now caked with mud after slipping during the flight to the sloops.
Larry reached out an arm and put Mariam's cap back on, giving it a little pat afterwards. "What is it?" he asked her.
"Where's Iggy?" she asked. "I haven't seen him this whole time and I'm getting really worried and everything and why does there have to be a Reaper WITH THE BIG BAZAAR HAPPENING TOMORROW?"
Larry stood up straight, his heart sinking and stomach flopping. Last he remembered, Iggy had been sleeping alone in the Yoshi galleon—again. He was a heavy sleeper, and always slept below deck with all that stuff around him…did he not hear the commotion? He must've. But even if he did, did he get on one of the sloops in time?
Larry's gaze swept the deck like a wet mop would to clean it, but there was no sign of Iggy—his height and green hair sprout always made him easy to pick out.
Larry cursed under his breath, but even Mariam didn't hear through the yelling.
"Wait here," he told her, and then leapt over the railing and landed on the deck with a grunt. No one in the right mind would be below-deck—closer to the water, closer to the Reaper, as his mother said once or twice—but he knew he should check anyway. He lifted the trapdoor and went down the swinging rope ladder. He scanned the damp, dingy hold, but no one was there. Suddenly, the trapdoor shut above him as someone ran past it, knocking it back down, and the sloop leaned to one side, throwing Larry off. He landed on his shell, and he skidded into the wall. He unsheathed his claws and used them to get back onto stable footing, and dodged a sliding crate before grabbing the ladder.
The ladder swung back and forth, but Larry held on until he was directly under the trapdoor. He punched upwards, knocking the trapdoor open and bruising his knuckles. He attempted to climb out, and almost fell back down, but then Alex was there, her grip soft but steady, like her hands, her body, her personality, and Larry liked it that way.
Larry swung on the rope ladder, sinking his big toes into the wood of the deck, and then grabbed the deck with one hand and pulled left as Alex did. He flew out and barreled into a Goomba with a white-and-green bandana, who quickly recovered and scurried to the other side of the boat, panting.
Larry sheathed his claws and got up. Alex smiled, and he flashed a cheeky but nervous grin.
"Ye seen Iggy?" he asked her, locking gazes.
"Not on this boat," she said, brushing some of her red hair from her face.
"Could you help me look on the other boat, then?"
"Sure, Larry."
But they couldn't find him, even after looking at the boat's deck from all possible angles. The other Yoshi sloop had moved from behind them to beside them, but no one was stopping it so that Larry and Alex could look for their friend.
I guess I'll see him at Tower Isle, if he is there, he told himself after telling Alex. He had a terrible feeling that he wasn't there, though.
He strode back to Mariam, trying to be as slow as possible. The chaos was quieting down again, but there was still great tension and fear in the air, and everyone knew the calm could break in a blink of an eye.
Mariam understood Larry's look once she returned to him, and with a sad face threw her arms around him, and gripped him tightly. Larry gave her a hug back. She was almost like a sister of his, but not quite.
Alex watched from a distance, feeling what Larry and Mariam felt, and trying to think of a way to cheer them up, but especially, Larry. As always.
The calm, as expected, lasted for maybe three minutes.
It shattered when one red Yoshi frantically pointed out that they saw a "great, looooong, slender shadow" under the water, and everyone on the sloop rushed to the right side, where the Yoshi was pointing. This made the sloop unbalance a bit, and everyone, of course, felt it, and so everyone, of course, panicked that it would somehow capsize. And, of course, since one sloop was pointing at something and tipping over, the other sloop followed like a copycat.
"Get back!" ordered Rock from the steering wheel with the powerful, commanding voice he had. He reinstated his command several more times before people got the hint and spread it, and soon most had returned to the middle of the sloop, only to learn two things: the other sloop could handle things a lot better, with Koopas like Finnian and Morcant knocking some sense into the sloop's passengers and having them rebalance the ship, and two, the shadow seen by the red Yoshi was just some tall kelp stalks that had broken off and were floating together in a group.
"Seriously, Lavabake?" a gray Yoshi said to the red one. "I wasn't convinced when I saw it. It didn't have those telltale Reaper pincer claw thingies on what you thought was the head!"
Lavabake couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.
Finally, at last, Tower Isle was spotted on the horizon, and a great cheer went up from both sloops. Larry came up next to Rock, and, wordlessly, the Yoshi let him take over steering until they reached their destination. The waves had calmed down now, and Larry could make out several other ships coming from all directions, most made of palm wood bleached white from the sea and in sizes smaller than the sloops, but larger than the likes of rowboats, though Larry did spot one; it harbored only Goombas.
Larry turned the sloop left a little to let the sloop from behind pass by, and then he turned the wheel right so much that the passengers began to cry out in anxiety as he got very close to a smaller boat, and was rapidly approaching the sort of ring of rickety wooden boardwalks bordered with fenceposts that came up at random intervals, of which were topped with lit lanterns (made entirely of iron, except for the blazing charcoal inside and the orange glass that let the light to go out—there was also a little slot on the bottom to put in charcoal, because if the lantern were open, the waves would surely put out the flame) tied down with mighty plant fibers. The fence posts were all connected with ropes on the side that touched the sea, making it so it wasn't easy for one to fall off. The other side of the boardwalk ring was blocked by the tall limestone sea stack that the boardwalk wrapped around, and of which was the base for the hexagonal palm wood rooms that were built on top of one another, each being 10 by 10 feet wide, and seven feet tall, with one long wood ladder running from the bottom of the floors all the way up to the open-to-the-air top, which was enclosed with the same kind of lantern-lit fencepost-rope barriers, plus a barrel filled with many spy glasses.
Larry had kept turning the boat right until it was turned fully the long way. Rock started to come over, trying to take the wheel as he was afraid Larry was going to smash the sloop into Tower Isle and the other boats. Just as Rock got to Larry, though, Larry spun the wheel a bit more and slid the sloop nicely between two other fishing boats. He took his hands off the wheel and took a long, deep breath of relief, then turned to Rock.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" he said with a shrug. He whirled to face the passengers. "Everyone off!"
"Never seen anyone with steering skills like that, Larry Koopa," Rock told him, standing up as straight as a Yoshi could. His commanding voice was still there, but it was a lot more subtle as he spoke. "Do you sail often?"
Larry felt a chill go down his spine, and so tried not to meet Rock's eyes. "No. Not much. Not much at all. Especially large craft like this…" Images of the Mega Blooper jumpscared him in his head, but he pushed them away. "I usually just ride."
Rock licked his lips with the end of his lengthy Yoshi tongue. "Suit yourself. I think you do have real potential, though, Larry Koopa. Unless it was just some luck. Luck isn't reliable at all." He turned away and jumped off onto the deck, kicking his legs with unnatural speed to hover in the air for a moment as he descended. One of the many special abilities of the Yoshis.
Someone had flipped down the gangplank over the barrier and onto the boardwalk ring, and the passengers of both Yoshi sloops had all gotten off and were heading into one of the many entrances carved out on the bottom level of Tower Isle. Sighing, Larry crossed the sloop, tossed the anchor over and watched it lodge itself in some sandstone, and then walked down the gangplank; he did this all leisurely, not sensing any immediate danger, and all the screaming from everyone and not actual sighting of the Reaper Leviathan the whole way over to Tower Isle had mollified him.
He ran his clawed hand through his mohawk, shaking his head as he passed by the last of the civilians that had been told of the problem and were now at Tower Isle. Apparently, as Finnian had explained on their trek, he was sent to Chum Rocks by Morcant, and Morcant himself, aligned with several other crew members, dispersed to other locations nearby. It would be a painful task for the entire population of Whirlpool Archipelago to be alerted of the Reaper Leviathan, and besides, it would probably be leaving the Archipelago soon anyway—from what he knew, the apex predators didn't stay in one place for long and preferred the deeper waters anyway.
The inside of each wooden hexagon was dingy and damp, with little windows and a few spare oil lanterns providing iffy light. Each room was crowded with Goombas, Koopas, and Yoshis with all kinds of different colors and clothing, as would be expected, with many being at Whirlpool Archipelago for the Big Bazaar and had just arrived a day or two early to set up shelter, and possibly a stand for trading. The floors wheezed and the ladders creaked as Larry climbed through each floor. He bumped into Finnian on the third one up, with the blue-shelled Koopa also trying to get to the top, but he was rushing to get there; Larry wasn't.
"Hey, calm down, Finn!" Larry said, clasping Finnian's shoulders. "That Reaper Leviathan can't hurt you, or us, or anyone here!"
"It still could," Finnian said back with a hint of anxiety, "or they, if there is multiple, which could be the case!"
"No, there was just the one!" said Larry, gritting his teeth. "And it can't hurt you! Not here! Not in the tower!"
Finnian just shook his head.
"Listen!" growled Larry. Then he thought for a moment, and took a few more deep breaths himself. He calmed down. The buzz of panic around him was partly muted, as if he and Finnian were now in their own bubble of sound, of existence. He took more deep breaths, clenched and unclenched his fists, opened and closed his mouth a few times.
Another breath. In…out…in…out…IN…out…in…OUT…
Again. In…out…in…out…in…out…
One final time. In…out…in…out…in…out…
Finnian raised an eyebrow.
"Now you try," said Larry. "Take a deep breath. I do it all the time when I'm thinking about the incident." The Mega Blooper. "Here…in…"
Finnian closed his yellow eyelids and nodded quickly. He breathed in slowly, very slowly, and Larry watched his friend's chest rise, and then fall much too quickly.
"Not quite," instructed Larry, taking on a calmer voice than his either anxious, sad, or joking personalities, his different voices, which in reality were all very similar if his multiple voices were the focus, but if you listened hard enough, you could notice the varying tones. His different personalities were easily distinguished, though.
"You have to be slow. And steady. Like Ma told me…" He cleared his head. "With me, Finnian. Slowly. In…"
Finnian inhaled.
"...out…"
Finnian exhaled.
"Let's do it again. First we go in…"
"In…" Finnian echoed, inhaling deeply, steadily.
"Then out." Larry watched his chest deflate, then looked to his friend.
"Out," Finnian repeated, and a small smile snuck in, then disappeared like some of the air around him as he inhaled again, then exhaled. "In…and out…in…and out!"
Larry smirked. "There you go, Finn."
Finnian opened his big oval eyes and smiled sheepishly, a smile without teeth, like most Koopa Troopas. "Thanks."
"Welcome as always, pal of mine."
After that, Finnian decided to stay on the floor he and Larry had met on, while Larry ascended the gnarled wood ladder, looking for Iggy. He went all the way up, then all the way down again, and finally all the way up to the top. There had been no sign of his friend, and he needed to take more breaths to block the anxiety that drilled its way into him. By now, his palms were aching and raw from the unkempt ladder, and he used one of his claws to dig out a splinter or two, wincing in pain. Taking yet another deep breath, he started to watch for Iggy from the top.
A Goomba and three Yoshis, one being yellow with green shoes, the second being gray with cyan shoes, and the third being red with shoes of a dense blue color, were up there with him. In fact, the gray Yoshi, who Larry hadn't yet caught the name of, and the red one, who he knew to be Lavabake, were both the ones from the kelp-mistaken-as-a-Reaper-Leviathan incident on the sloop!
Anyway, the three Yoshis were surveying the surrounding waters for any signs of new boats arriving or a sighting of the Reaper Leviathan with their spy glasses, with the Goomba using what appeared to be a telescope that was already propped up on a copper stand. Larry snatched a spyglass from the barrel and opened it up, and joined in on the makeshift surveillance squad with the great bonfire crackling behind him, warming everyone on top, and those a floor down. The spyglass was also made of copper, though it was dull and more oxidized than the others, and the amethyst that served as the glass of the spyglass was caked with mud. Larry did his best to restore it, but it couldn't be saved, and was the last in the wood barrel anyway.
It's just another lost cause in this unforgiving world, thought Larry, his calm, counseling self that had been used with Finnian being replaced with his solemn, self-deprecating approach on things. Just like me.
He examined the spyglass again, then peered into it. He could barely make heads or tails from behind the tinted amethyst. Kinda like Finn when he was panicking. Couldn't see straight, and same with not thinking straight as well. This whole thing probably cost him some sanity, I'll bet. Poor guy. He is usually so chill and upbeat…but I guess no one's invincible. I'm certainly not. As always, though, Larry noticed that he was being his sad self again, quite quickly this time, and so attempted to lead his thoughts down a better path, even if the thoughts weren't all too important.
Hm…better ask for some green caps after this. Or cooked cod? I know that's his favorite. Finn's. Yeah. Not too filling, but sanity comes back quickly with them and they have such a good flavor. At least, the ones Alex usually brings back. Wonder where she gets them. Morcant's crew? I know some of them are hooked up with some rich fishermen…
Larry kept up those thoughts and soon moved to his joking self as nothing happened for the next hour, and sometime after. It was known by all residents of Whirlpool Archipelago that in the instance of an evacuation to Tower Isle, it was advised to wait for at least two hours after the emergency before returning to home or work, and it was nearing that time at last. Most of the traders sailing in for the Big Bazaar didn't know of this rule, though, so many an explanation had to be made throughout Tower Isle.
Suddenly, a wheezy voice Larry knew well called out from the sea. Larry, Lavabake, and the gray Yoshi ran to the other side of the tower's top to see Iggy, his sweat and foggy glasses gleaming in the late sunlight, steering a Yoshi sailboat deployed from the galleon back at Savior Island with one hand, and driving a driftwood paddle through the water for extra speed in the other.
"IGGY!" Larry called with his hands and claws cupped around his mouth.
Iggy glanced up at Larry, then looked down again. He was almost to the dock. "I'm in a bit of a predicament right now, old friend!" he responded with as much relaxation as one could in a time of panic.
"Whu—" started Larry and Lavabake before Larry sighted the problem.
Just under the foamy waves, right behind Iggy, was the great, looooong, slender shadow of a Reaper Leviathan, its four telltale scythe-like mandibles reaching out to snatch the bottom of the sailboat.
New references to games in this chapter:
105. Finnian ringing a golden bell to alert the civilians of danger is similar to how gold bells ring in Minecraft villages to alert Villagers of an incoming Illager raid
106. Reaper Leviathans are from Subnautica
107. Kelp strands breaking and floating around randomly, as they did with the fake Reaper sighting, is a slight reference to how that seemingly happens in Minecraft; the spy glasses, as described, are from Minecraft, including them being made from copper and amethyst; Tinted Glass is also a Minecraft block referenced when describing how the spyglass Larry got was dirty; how the lanterns on the fence posts about Tower Isle are described is also their Minecraft appearance
108. The chapter name, Lurking in the Deep, is the name of the Stranded Deep soundtrack that plays when a shark is around
109. Rock's tungsten helmet and spear are both from Terraria; his seashell suit, blowgun, and darts are from Don't Starve